Tag: welfare

NYC Socialist Mayor Eyes Activist Who Called CPS ‘Genocide for Black People’ to Lead Child Welfare Agency

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is considering Angela Burton, a 65-year-old activist known for her criticism of Child Protective Services (CPS), to lead the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

Burton has described CPS as a form of “slow extractive genocide for black people in America” in a 2023 X post and likened it to “child slavery” in another post from July 2023.

“Leave Black people alone. Your numbers and methods are treasure. Racist garbage in, racist garbage out. We don’t need CPS. CPS is Slow extractive Genocide for Black people in America. We know what you’re up to,” Burton wrote.

Currently, Burton serves on Children’s Rights’ New York Mandated Reporting Working Group, which seeks to narrow mandated reporting laws to reduce what it calls over-surveillance and family separations, particularly affecting Black, Latino, and low-income families.

Burton has also posted on X calling CPS a “grave and imminent threat” to children and families, accusing CPS employees of racism, and advocating for defunding police and the abolition of the “foster care industrial complex.”

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Democrats Claim GOP ‘Gutted’ Medicaid. Federal Data Shows The Opposite

etween now and the November midterm elections, Democrats and their allies will spend countless hours and energy claiming Republicans “cut” Medicaid in last year’s reconciliation legislation. Don’t you believe it. 

A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report demonstrates how Republicans’ reforms in that law merely attempted to slow an unsustainable Medicaid program following a Biden-era spending explosion. But for good or for ill, the program’s spending continues to grow inexorably higher, notwithstanding those reforms.

Scaling Back Biden’s Spending Binge

Last January, I wrote about that Biden-era Medicaid explosion. From June 2024 to January 2025, CBO increased its estimates of Medicaid spending by $817 billion, or 12 percent, and cited five factors driving such rapid spending growth. Democrat policy priorities, most of them imposed by the Biden administration unilaterally, were at the root of those factors: administrative actions to expand eligibility and prevent states from cracking down on fraud, a mandate on states to cover anti-obesity medications, greater incentives for states to expand Medicaid to able-bodied adults, and policy changes allowing states to bilk the federal government out of additional Medicaid matching funds.

The budget reconciliation bill Republicans passed last year undid many of those changes. It repealed the additional incentives Congress passed in 2021 for states to embrace Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, blocked several costly Biden-era mandates, cracked down on state abuses of the Medicaid financing system, and instituted work requirements for able-bodied adults. But it made no explicit changes to the benefits provided to the vulnerable populations — seniors, individuals with disabilities, and children — for which Medicaid was originally designed.

The Other Half of the Story

Last week, CBO released its annual report on the budget and economic outlook, its first fiscal update since the reconciliation measure last July. It estimated that last year’s bill would reduce Medicaid spending by $1.184 trillion, a fact Democrats will dutifully repeat ad infinitum between now and Nov. 3.

But the welfare-industrial complex won’t bother to mention several other important Medicaid facts to voters. First, even after taking into account the changes in the reconciliation bill, CBO now estimates Medicaid will spend more under Donald Trump than it estimated during the last year of Joe Biden’s presidency. You read that right: From 2026 through 2034, CBO now estimates that Medicaid will spend $7.124 trillion, versus an estimate of $6.862 trillion in June 2024.

In part, that dynamic occurs because, notwithstanding the changes Republicans enacted into law last year, Medicaid spending continues to climb ever higher. Even as it reduced Medicaid spending by nearly $1.2 trillion to reflect legislative changes from the reconciliation bill, CBO cited “technical changes” to increase spending by $700 billion over the coming decade. While noting lower-than-expected enrollment growth in 2025, “[c]osts per enrollee grew by 16 percent in 2025 — significantly more than CBO had anticipated,” and a trend the budget gnomes expect to continue.

Contra claims about Medicaid “cuts,” program spending will continue to grow every single year over the coming decade. From 2026 through 2036, CBO believes Medicaid spending will grow by a total of 39 percent, due to both growth from inflation and 18 percent growth in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) spending per beneficiary.

Democrats will cite the estimated 14 percent reduction in Medicaid beneficiaries as evidence of the likely harm caused by the budget reconciliation measure. But even here, CBO notes that the number of individuals “losing” coverage “includes 1.5 million enrollees whose records indicated enrollment in more than one state and who would retain Medicaid eligibility in their current state of residence.” This “cut” reflects not individuals being harmed but “enrollees” who never should have had duplicate coverage to begin with.

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79th Suspect in Massive Minnesota Fraud Scheme ARRESTED After Attempting to Flee to UK — Center Received MILLIONS in Taxpayer Funds Under Walz Administration

Another taxpayer-funded grift artist has been stopped in her tracks.

The owner of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, who pocketed a staggering $3.67 million in child care funds in 2025 alone, has been arrested before she could escape to the UK.

Fahima Egeh Mahamud now becomes the 79th defendant charged in the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud network, the same racket that stole hundreds of millions meant for kids’ meals and actual care.

In 2025 alone, the center reportedly hauled in a staggering $3.67 million in Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) funding.

This comes after her site was already flagged for receiving over $850,000 from the feeding scheme between 2020 and 2021, while spending only a fraction of that on actual food for children.

More from KARE 11:

According to court documents, Mahamud operated a food site, Future Leaders Early Learning Center, under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future between 2018 and 2021. Records show that Mahamud incorporated Future Leaders as a legal entity in March 2015 and participated in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under a different sponsorship. However, in September 2018, documents show that Mahamud signed a sponsor transfer request to be under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.

Future Leaders received funds in 2018 and 2019, but the claims were mostly “modest,” according to a special agent with the FBI, and rarely exceeded $10,000, but in December 2020, those funds dramatically increased. An affidavit in support of a criminal complaint says Future Leaders claimed to serve more than 1,000 children per day between January 2021 and June 2021. By February 2021, prosecutors say Future Leaders was claiming to serve nearly 60,000 meals to children monthly.

There was also email communication between Aimee Bock, the so-called “mastermind” behind the Feeding Our Future fraud, and another staff member at Feeding Our Future about Mahamud’s request to “increase from 500 to 1000.”

The special agent said that investigators found evidence that indicates many invoices and receipts are “inflated or fraudulent.” Some of the invoices were from a vendor of a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

The affidavit goes on to say that from December 2020 through July 2021, Future Leaders received more than $850,000 and only spent about $125,000 on food. Forensic analysis indicates that Future Leaders made payments to individuals, including $174,159 to Mahamud and $726,566 for real property purchases and $359,020 to other companies associated with Mahamud.

Court documents indicate that on February 10, 2026, Mahamud notified the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families that she was abruptly closing her center.

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Former NY Sales Director Sentenced to Prison in $70M Medicare Brain Scan Scheme

A former New York-based sales director for the Northeast region of a mobile medical diagnostics company was sentenced on Feb. 13, 2026, in federal court in Boston for conspiring to offer and pay kickbacks to doctors in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans.

The scheme resulted in fraudulent bills of about $70.6 million to Medicare. Medicare paid approximately $27.2 million to the TCD company for the fraudulent claims.

James Rausch, 57, of Point Jefferson Station, N.Y., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to eight months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. The defendant was also ordered to pay $17.5 million in restitution, forfeiture in the amount of $408,437 and a $20,000 fine.

 In June 2025, Rausch pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute.

From March 2015 through at least September 2020, Rausch conspired with others, including two managers for a mobile medical diagnostics company that performed transcranial doppler (TCD) scans, to enter into kickback agreements with various doctors. 

TCD scans are brain scans that measure blood flow in parts of the brain. 

Rausch and his co-conspirators agreed to offer and pay doctors kickbacks, some in cash and others by check, based on the number of TCD ultrasounds the doctors ordered. The co-conspirators created purported rental and administrative service agreements, which on paper made it appear as if doctors were compensated for the TCD company’s use of space and administrative resources of the ordering doctor’s practice based on fair market value and not based on the volume or value of referrals. These were sham agreements that hid the true nature of the arrangement of paying per test.  

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Massachusetts auditor heads to court after finding $12M in fraud

he Massachusetts state auditor is headed to court as part of her effort to audit the state legislature.

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, earlier this year, notified the state legislature that she would begin the audit, after 72% of state voters approved a law permitting her to do so.

However, state lawmakers declined to produce documents necessary for the audit, Fox News reported. She is now challenging the state at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

In 2025, her office identified roughly $12 million in public fraud related to state programs. The court battle comes in the wake of national fraud revelations in Minnesota linked to the state’s Somali expat community.

That development has turned the public’s attention to state government’s and their attitudes toward enforcing restrictions on eligible recipients of public aid.

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Ted Cruz Just Introduced a Bill That Would Make Life Hard for Welfare Fraudsters

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has introduced a measure aimed at preventing widespread government welfare fraud like what is happening in Minnesota, California, and other states.

Cruz’s “Payment Integrity Act” would reimagine how federal childcare funds are paid out after it was revealed that fraudsters in Minnesota raked in up to $9 billion in taxpayer funds by running scams designed to defraud government welfare programs.

The legislation, cosponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) would require states to base payments on verified attendance rather than just enrollment. This would prevent situations where childcare providers falsely claim to have a certain number of kids enrolled when they really don’t. This is one of several scams that occurred in Minnesota.

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HHS Releases Medicaid Dataset to Crowdsource Fraud Detection

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a massive data set related to health care spending. 

The release follows rampant fraud exposed in multiple government programs, including programs meant to feed hungry kids, help autistic kids, get kids into daycare, and help people find housing. One prosecutor alleged that criminals stole up to $9 billion across 14 social programs in Minnesota. 

If you have a computer with enough memory to download the data set and find fraud, then you could even get paid to expose fraud, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

The Treasury Department will set up a website to report fraud where whistleblowers can receive part of the fine, Secretary Scott Bessent said.

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RFK JR: $100 Billion a Year in Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, Mainly in Blue States

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said an estimated $100 billion is stolen each year from Medicare and Medicaid and outlined new efforts to detect and prevent fraud during a discussion with Theo Von.

Von asked Kennedy about what he discovered after reviewing operations within federal agencies.

“What were some of the biggest cases of fraud, like, when you got in there and got behind the curtain, see, like, you know, like the NIH, the EPA, like, just see what’s going on back there. What were some of the biggest cases of fraud that you kind of found?” Von asked.

Kennedy pointed to Medicare and Medicaid as the largest sources of fraud.

“I mean, the biggest cases are, what were we got between Medicaid and Medicare? There’s about 100 billion stolen every year, and a lot of it is like what’s happening in Minnesota with the Somali community and what’s happening now, even worse in California,” Kennedy said.

He described what he called systemic issues within the programs.

“But you know, one of the problems is that that’s a systemic problem, is that Medicaid, Medicare now no longer. It used to be that they that they paid for your medical treatment, your doctor’s visit, but now they pay for the person who takes you to the doctor, and they pay for home care, and they pay for a person to come in and pay your bills, right? So there, there’s, there’s all kinds of opportunities for fraud,” Kennedy said.

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The Arrogance of Migrants Is Something to Behold

There are few things more natural than people from different places and cultures being suspicious of one another. Human beings are tribal by nature, and tribes have always been exclusive. 

As human societies grew larger, the “tribe” to which we are loyal has expanded, and the characteristics we use to identify who belongs to it can shift beyond mere proximity and familiarity. We can even have allegiances to different tribes at the same time. Texans tend to see themselves as members of their local community, Texas, the “tribe” of their favorite sports teams, and as Americans. Sometimes the tribal allegiances overlap, and sometimes not. 

I guarantee you that Floridians and Texans worry about the influx of people from Blue states changing their politics, so imagine what happens when a person from a different country, culture, religion, and who behaves very differently from you, horns in and demands that you change for their benefit. 

And, by the way, demands that you pick up the tab for their new lives. 

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The Bigger Problem that the Tim Walz NGO Scandal Has Exposed 

The Minnesota nonprofit fraud scandal, now expected to cost taxpayers more than $9 billion, is being dismissed by many as an isolated failure. However, this is far from the case, and writing it off as such would be a colossal mistake.

What it actually revealed is a broader problem in the Swamp—that institutions claiming to represent others often operate with little accountability and then quietly drift away from the very people who are footing the bill.

In Minnesota, nonprofit organizations became the perfect vehicle for abuse—shielded from scrutiny, politically protected, and flush with public money. However, in Washington, trade associations operate in largely the same way. They collect millions in dues from American businesses while increasingly choosing to serve their own leadership’s personal and political interests instead of those of their dues-paying members.

Their members only care about being able to deliver good-paying jobs to their employees and securing a more favorable regulatory climate so they can deliver lower-priced goods for the American people; however, you’d never know that if you looked at the public policy priorities of their association leadership officials, who seem more interested in fitting in at woke radical leftist cocktail parties.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, has repeatedly broken with Republicans by sharply criticizing Donald Trump, including after January 6, when he called Trump’s actions “mob rule,” urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and faulted the administration’s handling of COVID-19. Despite that record, Timmons later congratulated Trump on his November 2024 victory and suggested they should “work together like we did before.” At the same time, Timmons praised and partnered with Joe Biden, backing the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign and publicly supporting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act. In 2022, he also donated to Adam Kinzinger’s leadership PAC just days after Kinzinger was censured by the Republican Party.

If a presidency was truly so dangerous five years ago that it was deemed incompatible with democracy itself, it is fair to ask how the same association leadership can now claim alignment and cooperation without any explanation, accountability, or evident change in approach. That kind of abrupt pivot invites skepticism from dues-paying manufacturers who expect their trade groups to be guided by member interests, not political positioning or reputational hedging.

The problem is compounded by a reliance on press releases in place of real relationships. Press releases don’t move policy—relationships do. Manufacturers don’t pay dues for moral posturing, elite signaling, or ceremonial access; they pay for results. When leadership spends years attacking an administration only to reverse course once the election is settled—substituting optics for engagement—it raises a fundamental question about who the organization is really serving.

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